Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Is Racial Discrimination By A Club Acceptable?

We've heard the story for years, a prospective member is denied admission to a club because of racial preferences. Most often to huge cries of outrage from the media and those on the left. It's true many on the right have argued in favor of such discrimination, including me when the situation is a strictly social club, but the club I'm about to speak of is hardly a social club.

"Mr. Johnson (name changed by editor) asked for admission, and he got his answer. ... It's time to move on," the long time member said. "It's an unwritten rule. It's understood. It's clear." That's true. The written bylaws of the club do not make race a prerequisite for membership, but the membership has remained racially pure since the club's inception. At least once before there has been a request for membership in this club that was turned down based solely on race.

No, I'm not talking about a Country Club, or prestigious downtown gym. This particular club operates within a Federal building, in our nation's Capital, and even under the auspices of Congress. Oh, and one more thing, the prospective members who were turned down are white.

The "Mr. Johnson" I mentioned in a previous paragraph is actually Tennessee Democrat Stephen I. Cohen, who succeeded Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., in the Memphis district. Mr. Cohen's constituency is mostly black, and he felt it would help him better represent those constituents if he could join the Congressional Black Caucus. A thought pretty much echoing the ideas behind a previously turned down prospective member's plans. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who is white, asked to join in 1975 when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only six years old.

"Half my Democratic constituents were African American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Rep. Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African Americans."

Democrats and their leftist friends are sometimes right when they complain about discrimination based on race, but in this case there are no complaints. No screams of outrage over discrimination. But if someone were to organize a Congressional White Caucus, just listen to them howl. Actually, who wants to bet that some leftist idiot will invade the comments and call me a bigot just for having the gall to broach the subject?